Aitakute
by DarkFonist
Summary: <html><head></head>-Contains OCs- When you can't beat a dating sim, who better to go to for help then the best? Naturally, though, things are never that simple.</html>
1. Field Trip

_My first fiction for this section. I hope I have everyone in character to at least some extent; feedback on that would be much appreciated. The idea for the plot just came to mind one day...and is thus a bit random. I hope you find at least a bit amusing._

* * *

><p>I stared at the screen and clenched my fist in anger. Perhaps <em>Tokimeki Memorial<em> and _Bloody Bride ~Imadoki no Vampire~_ were simply too easy. That was one of the options that I considered as solemnly watched the 'bad ending'.

"Well then." I sighed. "Perhaps it's time for a field trip."

* * *

><p>The bell's ring resounded throughout the hallways, signifying the end of class time and the beginning of lunch. For many, this was a good sign; classes were half over, and they now had some free time to spend with their friends.<p>

But for Keima, that was not the case. Now, he would have to deal with Elsie following him around, endlessly pestering him and interrupting what could have been more time for his games.

"Nii-sama!" the girl called out from behind him. Keima did not bother to stop, turn around, or even respond, knowing she would continue regardless. "Are you hungry? I made lunch for you today, again." Keima didn't respond to that either, for a slightly different reason.

The type of cuisine Elsie seemed inclined to make for him was quite literally Hellish and, from his own experiences, was generally not designed for human consumption. In any case, food was a lesser concern; better to just stay silent and focus on his game.

Without even looking ahead of him, Keima pushed aside the school building's doors that led to the outside, continuing to ignore Elsie's persistent attempts to get him to accept the box lunch she had made for him. She could at least wait until he had sat down; after all, how was he supposed to accept what she was giving him and continue to play games at the same time?

Making sure to save his game, Keima navigated out to his mail inbox and scanned through the mails. Most were praise, some were questions. Keima typed out responses as necessary, flying through the list until he reached a short message with a suspicious body.

**Capturing God:  
>Please come to the theatre during lunch. I require your assistance.<strong>

Keima narrowed his eyes at the message. He would have discounted the message as pointless had it not been worded in such a way as to imply the sender was here at the school. The message was sent today, so now was the time of the request. It was also written in rather polite speech, making use of more honorifics than a normal person would use, which led him to discount a large majority of people as possible senders. Keima's mind ran through the possibilities.

"Huh? What's that?" Elsie remarked, and Keima suddenly realized that she was staring at the screen of his PFP over his shoulder.

He scrambled away. "Why are you interested so suddenly?" he demanded, perhaps more loudly than he ought to have. Composing himself, Keima continued. "Besides, my mail is private."

"Please forgive me," Elsie apologized, bowing. If it were anyone else Keima would have thought the words sarcastic. "But what are you going to do about it?"

Keima closed his eyes and adjusted his glasses with one hand. "Nothing," he said simply. "I don't have time to waste with it. If it was a question I cared to answer, it would have been asked in the mail."

Elsie frowned. "But what if someone is in trouble?" she tried, considering all manner of situations, most of which would have been discounted as outlandish by any normal person.

Keima resumed finishing his mail. "If it's that important, go yourself." Naturally, to him this was just an opportunity to be alone with his PFP.

"But it was addressed to you!" Elsie countered, but Keima ignored her; she shouldn't have been reading his mail anyway. There was a short silence before Elsie announced, "...Okay, I'm going to go."

This actually surprised Keima a little, but he showed to no response. It was a windfall for him, to be sure, so he was not going to lose this opportunity.

* * *

><p>The large wooden door to the theatre creaked on it's hinges and Elsie slowly opened it, peeking carefully inside. It was old, and rather creepy, which did make her wonder why someone would choose to meet there of anywhere.<p>

"Um, hello?" the devil called out tentatively as she advanced into the building, her broom clutched close as a security blanket. She scanned the area and suddenly noticed something in the far seats. A person, perhaps?

"Excuse me?" Elsie tried again, moving in that direction.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice shouted from above and behind her, causing her to jump in surprise.

"O hellish creature that trespasses on this wondrous earth!"

Elsie spun and looked up to find someone who seemed to be standing atop the second story balcony. The speaker was young, looking to be around Keima's age, possibly a bit older. He had shoulder-length dark hair that was tied back in a ponytail, and was wearing glasses. He did not wear the school uniform, instead having on a black shirt and a pair of jeans. The thing that stood out the most, however, was the out-of-place dark cloak he had draped over his shoulders; disregarding the fact that it was not particularly cold out on this sunny day, it looked more like something someone would wear to a cosplay convention then around town.

He gestured dramatically, causing his cloak to wave in response. "I have been waiting for this moment!" He leapt from the railing, landing with a cloud of dust on the floor some distance before Elsie.

Elsie, herself, was more than simply surprised about the boy's dramatic appearance and actions; his words seemed to suggest that he knew of her true nature, which she had been very careful to avoid revealing to anyone besides Keima.

"Um," Elsie started, blinking as she considered her words and what she would do. "Who are you?"

"Give me your name, and I shall–" The cloaked boy looked about to continue, before a spark of realization appeared in his eyes. "What...? There's no way...a girl?" Elsie was about to say something, but he continued. "...You are...the 'Capturing God'?" His voice was hesitant, and rather polite, in stark contrast to his original speech.

Elsie then realized that he had mistaken her for Keima. She quickly shook her head. "No, that's not me." She began to wonder what all that initial talk had been about; if he knew she was a devil, how could he mistake her for Keima, and why had he not done anything? "I'm Elsie, his younger sister. What was your name?" Perhaps the boy would introduce himself now.

"Oh. Suzou Hisui, nice to meet you," he replied, bowing respectfully._ Now to advance the plot._ "So what, he sent his sister to meet me?"

Elsie looked down. "...Well, actually, he wasn't going to come at all." Suzou raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. "I couldn't just ignore it, though."

"Hmm...well, thank you for coming, I suppose." Suzou looked thoughtful. "Your voice sounds a bit familiar..." _Estelle, maybe? I'll need to check that out later._

Not giving her time for a response, he let his previous statement drop and continued. "Could you perhaps tell me a bit about him?" He paused for a moment, but then quickly added, "I could just go and meet him, but that's boring and I enjoy setting plots."

Elsie was a bit hesitant, though he did not seem like a bad person. "Nii-sama...what should I say about him...?" she wondered aloud.

"Well, how about his name?" Suzou prompted. "I've heard a bit about his personality but I'm sure you could be a lot more helpful."

* * *

><p>Keima, meanwhile, had finished with his mail and working on one of his games in peace, for a change. Well, relatively. It was true that Elsie was not here to bother him, but annoyingly he would occasionally wonder if she was doing all right.<p>

He admitted to himself that perhaps it was 'natural'. Events like this occurred often enough (in games) and he knew from experience that choosing to do nothing, as opposed to following along, was generally the wrong choice.

Keima cursed the idiocy of the real world as he stood and began heading towards the theatre. Only here, outside of games, would they have such an event; one that didn't give you the opportunity to bow gracefully out of what you hoped to avoid.

* * *

><p>"So, how does that sound?" Suzou asked.<p>

"Well..." Elsie was hesitant. It was harmless, sure, and could be fun...but she still was worried about Keima's feelings.

"Hey." Suzou got her attention. "Think about it; what do you think he'd actually do when he found out?"

_Keima looked her in the eye. "Don't waste my time like this." He then continued playing his PFP as though nothing had ever happened._

"I think he'd just let it go because it would be a waste of effort to bother you about it," Suzou continued after a pause. "It'll be fine."

* * *

><p>Keima stopped as he reached for the door handle, hearing a crash from inside the theatre. Hesitating only for a moment, he pushed the door open, and saw Elsie laying on the ground, a black-cloaked figure a few feet away.<p>

"Fiend! I, the Vampire Hunter Suzou, will see you back into the darkness by the power of my holy sword!" Black Cloak said, and it was then that Keima realized that the speaker had a _sword_ of all things drawn and pointed towards the girl.

"Wait!" Keima cried, rushing to intercede between the two of them. "I can't allow you to harm my sister!"

"Nii-sama! You came to save me!" Elsie said delightedly.

"So," Suzou said, pushing up his glasses with his right hand as he lowered his other, which held the sword. "You are the 'Capturing God'."

"That's right..." Keima replied, narrowing his eyes. "Now put away your weapon. I'm here, as you asked."

Suzou's expression suddenly changed. "Naturally. I wasn't going to hurt her, anyway." He sheathed his weapon on his right hip, and Keima felt Elsie standing up behind him. "I figured you'd come."

Keima relaxed his stance and adjusted his glasses. "And I knew you had no intention of harming her," he said calmly. Elsie made a questioning noise from behind him, and Suzou raised his eyebrows in question.

"Oh? How do you figure?"

"You have a flare for the dramatic," Keima started, looking sideways at the other boy, eyes narrowed. "If you had sent me a request for assistance, you must share my interests. This was just a silly plot; a waste of time. Feigning concern was the best way to move the event forward quickly."

Suzou smiled at that. "Heh, your perception and foresight surpass mine." He switched to a less overly-formal style of speech. "I guess I should have expected no less from a God."

"What do you want?" Keima asked, going straight to the point. As it was, he was most interested in simply finishing this event and moving on.

"As I said, I need your help," Suzou said, being quite inspecific.

"You have five minutes. After that, I'm returning to class," Keima responded.

"Wha...you can't tell me you actually need to go to class," Suzou protested. "It's about a dating sim."

"Hmph." Keima turned to the door. "If that's so, then you could have simply asked in your mail."

"It's too complex!" Suzou countered.

"Then my site." Keima moved towards the door, pulling it open with one hand, his other back on his PFP.

Elsie looked back and forth between the two, unsure of what to say. She turned to Suzou and bowed in apology. "I'm sorry! I need to go to class too!"

Suzou stood there for a few seconds before rushing after the pair. "You can't leave like that!"

"Stop following me." Keima commanded as Suzou came up behind them. "This event is very poorly written."

"No, it's very **well** written!" Suzou countered. "You just keep picking all the wrong dialogue options."

"Don't speak to me about game mechanics, you minor character," Keima said, still not taking his eyes of his PFP. "In any case, you look suspicious. I would not be surprised if you were thrown off the premises." With that, Keima turned and entered into a classroom, knowing Suzou wouldn't try to pursue him that far.

"I'm sorry," Elsie apologized again. "I can't skip class..."

Suzou shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I'll think of something." He turned and headed down the hallway as Elsie followed Keima into class.

* * *

><p><em>Sometime later...<em>

"Hello again," Suzou said, falling into step besides Keima and Elsie as they walked down the hall. Elsie, naturally, returned the greeting kindly, but Keima felt things were getting bothersome.

"How did things go?" Elsie asked. "I mean, you do look rather suspicious..."

_She's asking about how I avoided getting..."thrown off the premises"? Heh._ Suzou smirked. "Oh, that. That was pretty easy." He brushed some of his hair back thoughtfully. "I just found a class that was teaching English, walked in, apologized for being late, and said I was there as an assistant."

"In that cloak? That's surprising," Keima said emotionlessly, not bothering to look up from his gaming.

"You're right; I ditched the cloak before walking in, of course." Suzou looked to the side and gestured towards his cloak. "It's not like someone would steal something like this, even if it was just laying around in the hallway."

Before the conversation could continue, however, someone walked into Suzou, causing him to stumble and nearly lose his balance. Well, 'nearly' being what would have happened under normal circumstances. With his nonsensically long cloak, his step to keep his balance got tangled in the folds of the garment, sending him to the floor.

"Oh! I'm sorry about that," a female voice said. "I wasn't paying attention, sorry."

"Uh, no problem, I'm okay, I think..." Suzou replied from his place on the floor. Elsie called to Keima, hoping to prevent him from just continuing on ahead, though it seemed he was intent on taking the opportunity to distance himself from the black-cloaked boy.

Rolling over onto his back, Suzou was about to say something to the girl when suddenly his face flushed red and he looked to the side again. She was wearing the school uniform, after all.

"...?" The girl gave him a questioning look, but didn't have time to add anything else as Suzou kicked himself back onto his feet, miraculously managing to avoid landing on his cape and falling over again. She smiled at him. "It seems you're okay."

Elsie made a small gasp in surprise before turning and went after Keima.

"Yeah..." Suzou scratched the back of his head nervously, and glanced backwards. "Well, anyway..." Not wanting to let the Capturing God escape his sight, Suzou turned and began to walk away, when the girl grabbed his arm and stopped him.

"Wait...what's your name?"

"Oh, uh, Suzou. Suzou Hisui," he replied quickly, blinking slightly at the sudden contact.

"Haruna Rindo," she replied. "See you again, then." With that, she released him and continued on her way.

Shaking the confusion off, Suzou turned back towards the way Elsie had gone, hurrying after her and Keima.

"...spirit!" Elsie finished as Suzou rounded the corner.

"What?" Keima replied, actually looking up from his PFP for a change.

"Hm? What is it?" Suzou asked, giving a curious look to the two.

"Not something you should concern yourself with," Keima replied, returning to his game. "Elsie, go and do as you normally do."

"Huh?" Elsie looked at him with confusion for a moment before she seemed to suddenly realize something. "Oh! You want me to–"

"Yes! Go!" he ordered, cutting her off. Elsie nodded in understanding and headed back the way they had came.

Suzou stared at the way she had left for a moment, before remarking, "Well now, that's suspicious." Not pausing, he continued, "So how are you related, again?"

"...Siblings," Keima supplied, resuming walking. Suzou had no idea where he planned to go, but followed anyway.

"Huh." Suzou looked to the sky for a moment, seemingly considering his words. "...Is there anything weird about her?"

_What is he trying to get at?_ Keima thought to himself. "Besides her in her entirety, no."

"You seem to be the calm type, so..." Suzou trailed off before turning to look at the boy next to him. "She seems to have a strange...I don't know..." His gaze drifted downwards. "Youki?" he tried, as though unsure about the definition. "...about her."

True to Suzou's words, Keima didn't show any reaction at all. Though he considered the cloaked boy's speech carefully. Was he trying to imply that he _did_ know who Elsie really was? Keima naturally couldn't say anything about the matter, so he would have to deflect the issue. "Horrible."

Suzou raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"That was a horrible pickup line."

"...Excuse me?" Suzou repeated, stressing the words a bit more, as he had obviously heard what was said. "I'm not going to ask her out!" he insisted. Keima didn't bother responding as he entered what seemed to be a random room; a lounge or eating area of some sort.

There was a short silence.

"...Well played," Suzou suddenly said after they had entered. "You're quite the Zhuge Liang with your tactics; you _almost_ distracted me from the topic." He smirked. "How about, as a reward, I'll not pry any more..." Suzou trailed off, returning his gaze to around the room. _...from you._

Keima sat down at an arbitrary table and continued to play his PFP, offering no comment. He almost certainly had Suzou's archetype figured out; he simply needed to apply his findings as he had before. Having the cloaked teen around during a capture process promised nothing but problems.

_All right then,_ Suzou thought to himself as considered his strategy. _I'll just need to temporarily remove Keima from the encounter..._ "One sec, I'll be back," he said aside as he stepped out of the room, hoping to meet Elsie as she came to meet with Keima.

He didn't have to wait long. Suzou assumed that Keima and Elsie had the room as a pre-arranged meeting spot or something, as she seemed to have found them with no trouble.

"Ah, there you are," Suzou remarked as the girl came into view around one of the hallway's corners. "Keima was kind enough to explain the situation to me," Suzou said, his face serious despite the fact that he was lying. "What news on the spirit?"

Elsie looked at him with confusion as she considered what he had said. "Really?" She had to admit that it sounded a bit unlike Keima, but if he had explained the situation, then... "Well...I guess if he told you... The escaped spirit is in the girl that ran into you; Haruna Rindo. She–"

"Stop!" a voice shouted from down the hall – Keima.

Suzou spun to face him, a victorious smirk on his face. "You are too late, Nemesis!" He gestured dramatically. "Say farewell to your main camp!"

Keima's eyes narrowed as he pushed up his glasses. It seemed he had been too slow in realizing this plan of Suzou's. However now that things had progressed this far, he needed to consider his options. To Keima, it seemed that he ought to explain the situation to Suzou; it was an undesirable option, to be sure, but it was the best of his choices.

"...Fine then." Keima looked to Elsie. "Explain everything to Suzou and then tell me about the girl." He turned around and walked back to the room he had been in previously.

Suzou, still standing in his awkward pose, stared after the boy with a look of slight confusion. "Wow. He seemed to give in rather easily. I thought he'd try to avoid getting me involved, or something." He turned to the girl behind him. "All right then..."

* * *

><p>Suzou tapped the chalk idly on the board as he looked over the blackboard. There were all sorts of notes about what Elsie had explained to him, with arrows connecting relevant ideas and a fair share of erased parts for when Suzou had wanted to move sections around. "So this is it, huh?" he muttered, mostly to himself.<p>

There were also several blank sections, where Suzou had asked questions he apparently considered important (considering the space around them for writing) but had received no information from Elsie, mainly because she had no idea. Things like 'Military Tactics used by Hell', 'Political Situation of Hell', and other such arguably obscure topics were noted here and there.

Suzou turned around and looked at Elsie, who was standing before him, and Keima, who was sitting playing games, as always. "Is this everything, then?"

Elsie looked about to speak, but Keima spoke first. "Yes," he said simply.

Suzou raised on eyebrow; Keima hadn't even looked up to answer him! Though he couldn't say it was unexpected, coming from him. He shrugged. "All right then, that's that. So now, about, uh, Rindo. What do we do about that?"

Elsie's demeanor seemed to change with the topic. "Nii-sama will capture her heart!" she exclaimed happily.

"Well, I figured as much," Suzou replied, taking a seat. "I meant strategy and tactics."

"Um, well..." Elsie began hesitantly. This wasn't her area of work, after all.

"There is a problem," Keima said matter-of-factly. Elsie and Suzou both looked at him with confusion.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Elsie asked.

Keima looked to Suzou as he spoke. "She ran into you."

Suzou was about to reply with 'So what?' when he considered the comment a bit more closely. "Oh Martel, don't tell me you are implying what I think you are implying... The real world isn't a dating sim, you know."

Keima ignored him. "The simplest option would be for you to win her heart."

"H-How are you saying that so calmly?" Suzou asked rhetorically, his facial expression rather amusing to look at. "I couldn't do that!"

"I expected as much," Keima continued, his voice as even as ever. "A love triangle, while more difficult, will not be impossible."

"Wait, wait." Suzou interrupted. "Couldn't I just...you know, tell her I'm not interested?"

Keima shook his head. "Don't be foolish. A rejection would not remove her love for you. It would probably simply worsen the problem with the escaped spirit."

"Wait, come on!" Suzou protested. "Love? Just because she ran into, probably by **accident**, you assume that–"

Keima's eyes darkened, and his tone turned menacing as he adjusted his glasses, the light glinting of them menacingly. "Let me tell you something good."

He took to his feet a gestured dramatically. "There is no such thing as an 'accidental' meeting!" he declared. "The steps of every girl that walk onto the stage are fated! That is their perfection!"

Suzou's eyes narrowed slightly. "What about the RNG? That's perfection?" he asked, and almost immediately wished he hadn't. He was arguing with the 'Capturing God' after all, what other kind of reasoning might he expect?

"This is pointless." Keima sat down again. "It is a pity you don't understand. I suppose I expected too much." He looked over to Suzou. "However, you are important to this series of events, so you must help me."

Suzou was silent. He supposed he _had_ pushed for the information about what was going on, so in a way, it was his own fault he was here.

"Please, help us," Elsie said. "If you don't, we'll die."

Suzou turned to respond, but then suddenly realized what Elsie had said. "What? What the..." He remembered Elsie mentioning it before, but hadn't even thought about it. "Damn." Well, at least this made his choice easy. "Fine." He looked up at Keima. "So you said you had a plan..."

* * *

><p><em>Again, first fiction for TWGOKKaminomi. I need some of you readers to give me some critique so I can improve. Characterization is what I'm most concerned with; after all, without that, what's the point of the fanfiction in the first place?_

_Was planning this to be a one-shot but it got long, which I hope is a good thing. So it's basically a long one-shot in installment format, heh.  
><em>


	2. Gekou

'SANKAKU KANKEI' was written in large letters across the top of the blackboard.

Suzou raised his hand. "I have a question."

Keima turned and stared at him.

"Why do you write it that way? I mean, either write the kanji 三角関係 or go all-out and write 'Love Triangle'. Romaji are for the weak." Suzou waved his hand in casual dismissal. It was pretty clear he wasn't taking things seriously.

Keima continued staring for a but a moment before returning to the board, not even bothering to respond. On the board he drew a few sketches of himself, Suzou, and Haruna. They weren't particularly good, but the different hairstyles made them easy enough to identify. He then drew arrows from himself to Haruna, then from Haruna to Suzou, creating a V shape on the board, which he then marked with a few hearts.

"This," he began, indicating his drawing. "is the basis of the 'love triangle'. In this situation, we have two of the three corners under our control, which will make the capture process easier...comparatively speaking, of course."

Suzou raised his hand. "I have a question."

Keima stared at him.

"Don't triangles have three sides?"

"The third side is the rivalry!" Keima clenched his free fist tightly. He turned back to the board and emphasized this by writing the said word and drawing a small picture of himself and Suzou attacking each other with swords.

Suzou idly considered wasting more time by commenting that 'if you challenge me to a sword fight, you'll lose,' or sneaking over to Keima's things and then playing games instead of listening to what he had to say. Both options were eventually discounted; the former would probably inspire Keima to ignore him and the latter possibly to kill him. Elsie had told Suzou how Keima played games nigh constantly throughout the day, which lead Suzou to believe messing with his games or systems would probably not be taken lightly.

Keima turned his head to look at Suzou with a sideways glance."You will, for the beginning, act normally." He turned to the board again, writing that as a note underneath Suzou's picture, before moving over to his own. "I will push for affection." He drew some more hearts and arrows going from himself to Haruna. "Over the next few days, we'll begin to–"

"I have a question," Suzou interrupted, raising his hand again.

"What?"

Suzou hesitated, considering how to phrase what he was going to say. "...Well, I wasn't exactly planning on hanging around here, you know."

"But you have to," Elsie said, turning to him, a questioning look on her face.

"Yeah, I know," Suzou said quickly. "But it wasn't my initial plan." He paused. "To put it bluntly, I need somewhere to stay since this is going to take a little while."

Elsie stared at him for a moment, before smiling happily. "That's not a problem; you can stay at our house."

Suzou glanced over at Keima, who was staring at the floor, hand across his face. There was a short silence before Suzou spoke up, a bit hesitantly. "So, uh...Keima. Going to contribute an opinion...?"

Keima thought about Elsie's offer. Naturally, he didn't consider Elsie to have the right to offer someone else lodging in his house, but if he wanted Suzou's help he couldn't see a better option. His mother probably wouldn't care, especially if he told her Suzou was a friend; she would probably be happy he was actually speaking to other people at school and not think anything of it. "I assume having you stay at a hotel is out of the question?" Keima asked, mostly rhetorically.

"Well...I didn't really expect to stay the several nights you seem to be implying I'm going to be spending here, so I would say so." Suzou gave Keima a slightly curious look, a bit surprised that Keima appeared to be open to the idea. Elsie's description of him didn't fit too well with that – though Suzou supposed life and death matters _were_ extenuating circumstances if there ever were any.

Keima sighed. "...Fine."

"Yay!" Elsie cheered, taking Suzou's arm. "I'll go show you–"

"Stop!" Keima commanded.

"Y-Yeah!" Suzou agreed. "You can't take me there right now! Don't you have, you know, class or something?"

Elsie released the boy and looked down at the realization.

"Don't be foolish!" Keima said, gesturing dramatically for a moment before returning to his normal pose and pushing up his glasses. "We are skipping classes today."

Elsie brightened again and almost grabbed Suzou before Keima spoke a second time.

"Stop!" he commanded again. "That doesn't mean you can just leave! I'm not finished explaining yet."

"Oh, yeah, that's right!" Suzou said, hurriedly returning to his seat, thankful for an excuse. "This is important so we have to pay attention."

"Right." Keima turned to the board again. "She," he indicated the picture of Haruna. "is the 'heroine'-type. Politeness; kindness; innocence – these are the staples of such a girl." Keima adopted a more thoughtful pose. "Admirable qualities, but they will make a capture more difficult..."

"Huh? Why?" Elsie asked from her position by the door where she was absently cleaning the floor with her broom.

"It's because she is in love with Suzou!" Keima replied, clenching his fist with an enthusiasm only the Capturing God could have. "From her point of view, to fall in love with me is betrayal!"

"Right...a recurring situation in dating sims," Suzou said...or was about to, when suddenly a much more interesting remark came to mind. "Right. So the 'heroine-type'...that's like Elsie, then?"

Elsie made a noise as if to protest, but Keima spoke first. "There is a difference!" he stated, perhaps a bit emphatically. He looked about to say more, but hesitated. Suzou raised his eyebrow interestedly, and glanced between the two others; Elsie looked embarrassed and Keima looked like he was trying to figure out how to phrase what he was about to say.

_Whoops..._ Suzou thought to himself. _Maybe I shouldn't have said that?_

"So, uh, about the plan..." Suzou said sheepishly, trying to steer the conversation (that he had just derailed) back to topic at hand. _Maybe I should just stop saying these 'interesting' things that come to mind._ "Over the next couple of days...?"

"...Right." Keima looked back at the board for a moment. "Over the next few days, you need show that you aren't the type of person that Haruna fell in love with."

Suzou looked at him in disbelief. "And how am I supposed to do that? I just met her today and I'm supposed to know why she likes me?"

Keima was actually silent for a moment, considering this issue_. How could he not know his own 'traits'?_ However, before Keima could continue his train of thought, Suzou had spoke up with an idea.

"Wait," he said, looking forward in thought. "What about a love square?"

"...There is no such thing." Keima replied immediately, looking at Suzou questioningly.

Suzou ignored Keima's (in his opinion) stupid comment. "What if there was another girl?"

Keima thought on that carefully. Suzou's suggestion was not something common, but he could see it working...possibly. "So you'll continue to be friendly with Haruna, and at the same time show her that you are not a valid target..." he mused out loud. "If played well, her faith would falter, and..." Keima looked to Suzou. "That may work," he allowed, beginning a series of calculations in his head.

Suzou adopted a different tone of voice, smirking and brushing back his hair. "Damn, I must be a genius."

Keima looked up, ignoring Suzou's words as he turned to Elsie. "Elsie. You'll go with Suzou."

The demon looked at him for a moment before she realized what he had told her to do. "W-What? I couldn't do that..." She looked down, brushing the floor nervously.

Suzou make a choking sound as he failed to cover his embarrassment at Keima's frank statement. "G-Geez, you say it so calmly..." _What else could I expect from the Capturing God?_

Keima adjusted his glasses. "This was your suggestion," he said, sounding annoyed.

"Ugh, for someone who has played dating sims..." Suzou said to himself, trailing off when he realized he was speaking out loud. Unfortunately for him, Keima heard clearly.

"And?" he said darkly, seeming to loom over Suzou.

"Uh..." Suzou stumbled over his words, trying to figure out a way to work himself out of the situation. No obvious options presented themselves, however, leaving him to say what he was actually thinking. Though even that took a bit of effort. "Well..." Suzou took a breath to compose himself, then spoke. "You've played the dating sims. You are together with your target, and someone mentions you as a couple. Embarrassment, 100% of the time. It's just that simple."

"You know very well that Elsie is not the target," Keima said seriously, seeming to Suzou that he didn't get the implication at all.

Suzou rolled his eyes. "Okay, 'potential target'."

"She is not a potential target, either," he responded matter-of-factly.

"Come on," Suzou said, his eyes flaring. "_Every_ girl is a potential target."

"Incorrect." Keima countered, his stare dark as he adjusted his glasses. "'Potential targets' are the chosen few. Not any can simply–"

"Oh for the love of Martel! Look at Elsie–" Suzou replied heatedly, standing and gesturing at the girl who was standing awkwardly in the corner. "Kind, cute, helpful, around my age... Can you tell me those aren't qualities of a 'target'? You'll have to forgive us for not living in a fantasy land divorced from reality, where we can do as we like so long as we save and reload!"

His tirade finished, Suzou collapsed back into his chair and hid in his folded arms from the surprised stares of the room's other two occupants.

Keima looked at the boy. "Don't take this so seriously. It is just for the capture."

"That's exactly it," Suzou said, looking up just slightly. "Real life is 'real' so it's hard not to take it seriously."

_That's just another thing wrong with it,_ Keima thought to himself. _This makes planning more complex than it needs to be... _But he was the Capturing God, and indeed his life – as well as Elsie's – depended on whether he succeeded. So he would succeed.

A chime resounded. Suzou wondered what time it was, but supposed it didn't matter as he didn't actually go to this school and Keima and Elsie were decidedly skipping.

"N-Nii-sama?" he heard Elsie say questioningly to Keima.

"I'm going home," Keima replied simply, and Suzou raised his head in response, seeing Keima about to exit the room, things in tow.

"Okay, I'm coming..." Suzou started to get to his feet, but Keima stopped him with a look.

"No. You two need to stay for the 'walking home after school' event. Ten minutes."

"What about your...event, O Divine Hero?" Suzou asked, his form of address needlessly polite and punning on Keima's title.

Keima adjusted his glasses. "An event like that isn't going to trigger for me until I've increased the affection level," he said simply. "Elsie, you know how to get home. Ten minutes." With that, he walked out, PFP in hand, leaving the other two alone.

They were silent for a moment, before Suzou spoke. "I wonder how he knows how long we should wait..."

"I don't know..." Elsie admitted. "Nii-sama always seems to know what to do."

Suzou made a thoughtful sound, but didn't say anything else. There was silence for a bit longer before Elsie spoke up again.

"...So," Elsie began hesitantly. "What do we do?"

"Huh? We wait, like he said," Suzou replied. "The Capturing God probably knows what he's talking about... And even if he doesn't, it doesn't really matter. I mean–"

"Um, actually..." the girl said quietly. "I was meaning about walking home."

"Oh." Suzou thought about this for a moment. What _were_ they supposed to do? Suzou could always play it like a dating sim, as Keima probably would, but that would be awkward. The more he considered it though, the less he was able to come up with."...Well, we'll just have to...talk, I guess."

There was another uneasy silence, before Elsie glanced at a clock mounted on the wall. "We should head to the gate now, don't you think?"

Suzou followed her gaze to the clock before nodding. "Actually, go first and wait a minute or two. I'll be there then."

"Huh?" the demon game him a questioning look. "Why?"

"Well," he started, considering his words. "It's like a dating sim. You happen to be by the gate, and then I ask if we'll not walk home together." Suzou paused for a moment, and looked away in embarrassment. "...The girl asking the guy doesn't happen until the affection level is higher."

"That sounds like something Nii-sama would say..."

Suzou turned back to Elsie, smirking. "Well, that's good, right?" If he was acting like the Capturing God, he'd be sure to succeed, right?

…

Suzou considered the implication of that thought, and realized that wasn't exactly what he was intending. "Ah, I didn't mean it like that..."

Elsie blinked at him in confusion. "Huh?"

Suzou blinked back and realized he hadn't actually said that out loud. "Oh, uh, it's nothing. Let's just do this."

* * *

><p>Keima didn't appear to be looking where he was going as he returned home; after all, he was staring down at the screen of his PFP. But that was only to the casual observer. Any who knew of the Capturing God's prowess knew well that multitasking with a mere <em>one<em> game was nothing.

So it stood to reason that as he walked, Keima had formulated a cursory strategy for his current target, building on what he had worked on back at school.

Unfortunately, it could only be cursory as he could only guess at how Suzou and Elsie would perform in the grand scheme of things. Normally, he had only himself and his target to concern him, which simplified things substantially. But here, again, the 'real' had decided these senseless event chains, and he had no choice but to push on, compensating however he could.

His plan today, such as it was, was for Suzou and Elsie to walk home together, with Haruna to notice and observe. The following day, he would trigger a 'meeting' with Haruna, setting the stage for future events. What followed then would be heavily dependent on how the others handled things. Soon, however, Keima would have the route chosen and things would come to their inevitable ending.

* * *

><p>Elsie stood by the gates, feeling somewhat awkward. It wasn't often she was alone; following Keima around, or otherwise. Suzou had said he'd be there within a minute or two, but to the demon, it felt longer.<p>

"Hey," a voice called from her side. Elsie turned to see Haruna approaching from the school building. Elsie smiled as she approached, returning the greeting.

"You were the one that was with Suzou earlier today, weren't you?" the other girl asked.

Elsie nodded. "Yes, that's right. I'm Elsie, nice to meet you."

"Haruna," Haruna replied. Her expression changed slightly. "Are you...waiting for someone?"

_What am I supposed to say...?_ Elsie wondered to herself. Unfortunately, neither Keima nor Suzou had given her any advice on what to do, leaving her to simply be honest, if a bit vague. "...Yes, actually."

Around the building's nearby corner, Suzou listened intently. _Didn't expect that..._ He sighed to himself. _And Keima probably would have predicted something like this perfectly..._ Seeing no other options, Suzou decided he'd have to simply walk home with the both of them. It was be a bit more difficult, to be sure, but he'd have to make it work. He rounded the corner and approached the girls.

"Hey, Elsie." Suzou acted surprised to see Haruna, smiling. "...and Haruna, too." Haruna and Elsie returned his greeting in kind.

Suzou scratched the back of his head, drawing on the awkwardness he felt to make the action look natural. "So, uh..." He averted his gaze to the ground. "Elsie, Haruna, you don't have anything else you have to be doing right now, right? Do you...want to walk home with me...?" He was blushing fiercely as he asked, but for once didn't mind as it only helped sell his plan.

"Okay!" Elsie said, perhaps a bit more enthusiastically than necessary.

"A-Actually...I did have something else I wanted to do," Haruna replied, sounding flustered. "Later!" With that she hurried out the gates, leaving Suzou and Elsie staring after her.

Unfortunately, Suzou wasn't like Keima and able to instantly divine what that reaction meant. Though he supposed that was Keima's problem, anyway. "...An inverse matrix? Hm, doesn't matter..." He turned back to Elsie. "So, shall we?"

Suzou fell into step beside Elsie as she began leading him down the street. Luckily she took the lead so he didn't have to worry about prompting her. He adjusted his glasses. _Time for the Gekou Conversation Topic Strategy, then?_

"So..." Suzou began, envisioning the general list of topic choices. "What kind of weather do you like?" It sounded strange to his ears. Random, maybe.

"Clear days like now are the best." Elsie looked up at the blue sky that stretched above them. "It feels so nice to be outside on days like this, you know?"

"Yeah, I think so to," Suzou agreed. Personally, he didn't really think about things like that, but dating sims teach you that the best option is almost always to agree. That will get you the affection increase. "It's hard not to feel inspired when the weather is nice."

The was a short silence, and Suzou was about to bring up another topic when Elsie preempted him.

"Suzou," she started, looking at him. He turned to return her gaze. "What kinds of things do you like?"

_So much for playing it like a dating sim,_ Suzou thought to himself. The girl choosing the topic was unheard of in the games he'd played. "Well, games, I guess." He looked thoughtful. "But definitely not to the extent nor specialization of Keima... Dating sims are fun, but I enjoy other genres too."

"What about your outfit?" Elsie asked, looking curious.

Suzou cast a glance to his clothing for a moment. "Oh this? Yeah, you could call it a cosplay outfit. ...Though it's from a game probably no one but Keima would recognize." He chuckled. "What about you?"

At the question, Elsie gave a wide smile. "I like fire trucks," she said happily.

Suzou failed to avoid a misstep in surprise. It was a strange response, after all. The only problem was that when he twisted slightly to maintain his balance, he stepped on part of his cloak.

"Damn it, how does Reo even walk?" Suzou asked rhetorically as he picked himself up from the ground, luckily having been able to break his fall with his hands.

"Are you all right?" Elsie asked, her concern evident.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Suzou replied, adjusting his cloak and glasses. "Anyway..." He paused for a moment as he considered what to talk about next. "So how far away does Keima live, exactly?"

"It's not very far," Elsie said. "Maybe five more minutes?"

Suzou nodded, but was inwardly conflicted. _Gekou_ events with pretty girls were fine and good, but in games you always had a nice list of things to pick through, and never ended up with empty space in the conversation when trying to come up with and/or guessing the next topic.

_Now I'm putting everything in terms of...damn it. Must be Keima's magical powers. _Suzou thought to himself. "So, then..." He tried to think of another topic. Weather, things one likes... "...What do you think of the school uniform?" _Doesn't sound so awkward in the actual game..._

Elsie blinked at him for a moment before her smile returned. "Well, I think it's nice. It's a private school, so they would pick something proper like this."

"That makes sense," Suzou agreed. "I wonder if I'd be able to wear something like that."

"Huh?" Elsie looked at him curiously. "You don't wear uniforms at your school?"

Suzou raised his eyebrow for a moment before he understood. "Oh, no. But I wasn't meaning it like that." He really didn't think he'd have much of a problem wearing a school uniform. "I was just meaning, you know..." Suddenly, phrasing it seemed a lot more embarrassing. "...If I had the style to pull it off or not."

"I think you could do it," Elsie replied with a cheerful smile.

"You think so...?" Suzou averted his eyes to the empty road beside them to avoid making his blush too obvious. _All right, all right...think carefully._ "W-Well then, I'm happy that you think of me so highly," he managed to phrase, smiling nervously. _It sounds so strange when I say it like that..._

There was a slight pause as they continued walking._ Hrm, so my tactic failed? How does Keima do this, anyway? He seems to be rather successful with it..._

As he glanced idly to the empty road beside them, someone caught his eye. "Hey, Elsie."

She turned to him. "What?"

"Someone," Suzou said as he led her around a corner. "Seems to be following us."

Elsie looked at him questioningly for a moment, before looking back around to see who he was referring to. When she did, her face brightened considerably. "Haqua! She's another demon who works in the area." Elsie stepped out around the corner and made her way to Haqua.

"Elsie," the girl replied, but had no time to say anything else before the black-haired demon wrapped her in a tight hug.

"It's so nice to see you!" Elsie said happily. "Did you come to see Keima?"

"Ye–" Haqua began to answer, before she blushed and caught herself. "N–sort of. I just wanted to make sure he wasn't doing anything stupid!" she corrected eventually, probably a lot louder than she intended to.

"Suzou and I were heading back home anyway," Elsie said, seeming to not notice, for which Haqua was thankful. "Oh! You need to meet him."

"Suzou?" Haqua asked before she realized who the other girl was talking about. She'd almost forgotten about him. That kid was why she hadn't approached immediately, after all.

"Suzou," Elsie called as she rounded the corner. "This is...huh?" She looked around, faced with an empty street where Suzou had been standing before.

Suddenly, there was familiar laughter from above. "How long have I been waiting for this moment?" The pair looked up to see Suzou perched atop a wall surrounding a nearby home. "O intruder from the dark pits of Hell, your menace to humanity ends here!"

Haqua was speechless as she watched him leap from the wall down to the sidewalk. Who did this nonsensically dressed idiot think he was? How he knew she was a demon from Hell was also somewhat important.

Suzou reached for his sword, sliding it from its sheath and pointing it towards the girl. "I, the Vampire Hunter Suzou, shall send you back into the darkness."

Haqua actually considered producing her own weapon, but Elsie interfered. "Suzou! You can't just do this to everyone you meet."

"Hey," Suzou said as he carefully replaced his weapon. His tone had appropriately returned to the standard polite forms. "Just making a dramatic impression." He looked Haqua over, noting that she was pretty cute and her odd style of dress. "Suzou," he said, offering his hand to her.

"...Haqua," the girl replied evenly as they shook hands. _What a weirdo..._

"I'm sorry," Elsie apologized, bowing to Haqua.

"You don't need to apologize," Haqua said quickly. "After all, you're not the one acting like a character out of a manga."

"Video game," Suzou supplied, smiling annoyingly.

"Whatever."

Suddenly, something else occurred to him. "Elsie, say **nothing**." Elsie make a questioning sound, but he turned back to Haqua, pushing up his glasses and smirking. "I sense a dark aura around you. You, too, are a demon from Hell, are you not?" Naturally, he was blatantly lying, but Haqua probably didn't know that.

Haqua's expression changed from bored to something more interested at that. She'd thought his claims before were nonsense from some video game manual, but here he was, pushing the issue. There shouldn't be any way for a normal human to detect her true nature... Now that she thought of it, wouldn't he be able to tell something like that from Elsie as well?

Elsie was standing there next to Haqua, giving Suzou this very conflicted stare. It made him feel a little guilty. "Sorry, just messing with you." He chuckled. "Elsie mentioned it just now." _So, Keima has several friends in Hell._

Haqua narrowed her eyes in annoyance for a moment before realizing the implication of what he had said. Elsie told him? Something like that was obviously supposed to be a secret! Why would she have – then she paused mid thought. "Now I definitely need to see Keima..."

There was a moment of silence before Suzou spoke up awkwardly. "Well, I'd lead the way but I don't know where we're going...Elsie?"

Elsie nodded, and continuing along down the road, Suzou following along behind the two, looking thoughtful. _I guess I should be thankful Haruna isn't here, too..._

It was a rather silent walk. Haqua didn't want to say anything in front of Suzou, Suzou couldn't think of anything to say in front of her, and Elsie didn't know what they could talk about.

"I'm going to go talk to Keima," Haqua said simply, and took to the air, circling around one side of the house.

Suzou blinked after her. "She can't just go in the front door...?"

* * *

><p>Haqua climbed in the window, finding Keima, as always, busy playing his PFP.<p>

"Can I help you, Haqua?" he asked, somehow knowing who it was without even looking up.

"Yes," she replied flatly, ignoring the condescending tone in his voice. "Why did you tell some random kid?" What she was talking about, of course, was obvious.

"It was the best option," Keima answered, not sounding bothered at all. "Just adjust his memories after the capture." He looked up at the girl, the strangely serious look in his eyes giving her pause.

"It's not–" she began after a moment of hesitation, before stopping again. What he was suggesting...wasn't so impossible. "I guess it's too late now, anyway," she thought aloud, turning away and crossing her arms. "Fine. I can help you with that, but you're lucky." With that comment, she began walking away.

Keima looked back at her again. "...Isn't that paperwork Elsie is capable of doing?" he asked curiously.

Haqua froze mid-step, a blush forming on her face, which mercifully, Keima couldn't see. "W-Well, that's..." She scrambled to think of a way to hide her now obvious error. "I just wouldn't want Elsie to make a mistake. This would be a little out of the ordinary, I think." A perfect excuse.

"I think she could handle it." Keima's gaze returned to his PFP. "Your efforts would be better spent on something useful."

Haqua's blush renewed in intensity. Was he trying to say she was valuable to him? _No, no...! I'm reading too much into this..._

"Do you want to cook for us, tonight?" Keima asked, his voice even. "Mother is busy tonight."

Haqua was silent, torn between thinking 'this is useful?' and having the opportunity to do Keima a favor.

"W-Well, I suppose I could..." she said hesitantly, trying not to sound to eager. "You'd better be thankful, though."

"Thank you, Haqua."

The unexpected reply nearly caused the demon to trip over herself, her blush worsening. "F-Fine, I'm going to start now!" she said quickly, and hurried out of the room.

* * *

><p>"This is lucky, I guess," Suzou said after they had read the note left in the kitchen. It seemed Keima's mom was going to be out for tonight, leaving them free to do as they liked. Suzou could only hope Keima had found some way to inform her of his plans.<p>

Any response Elsie might have had was interrupted by Haqua hurrying into the room.

"Okay, I'm going to work on dinner," she said quickly and rather forcefully. "Go wait in the other room."

"Haqua," Elsie began hesitantly. "Are you all right?" She looked flushed.

Suzou noticed that as well, and an amusing comment came to mind. But it would only work if deadpanned. "What did you and Keima do up there?" ...Perfect.

So perfect, in fact, he was rewarded with a frying pan to the back of the head.

* * *

><p><em>Feel free to point out anything stupid I do... Though I do hope it is enjoyable nonetheless.<em>


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